by Katharine Schroeder

"Jackie, do you like the name Jackie?"

"Jackie, how does this light meter work?"

"Jackie, which movie do you like better, Shanghai Noon or Shanghai Knights?"

"Jackie, why are you closing your eyes and rubbing your temples?"

When Jackie Chan was made a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF two years ago, he probably had no idea that he would end up in a Hong Kong elementary school library answering endless questions and entertaining six young kids for almost nine hours (yes - NINE hours) as part of his ambassadorship! But that's just where he found himself on May 9th, 2006.

Jackie was asked to film a Public Service Announcement on a very serious subject: avian flu. The PSA is aimed at children and the hope is that Jackie's friendly and easygoing style will catch kids' attention, passing on the important message without frightening them.

Unusually quiet for most of the drive up to Sha Tin, Jackie became very animated a few minutes before we arrived. We were passing the spot where he had filmed part of the first Police Story movie and he excitedly pointed out all the changes that had taken place since the filming. 

"Wah! I remember there was nothing over there! Now look at all the buildings! And all the trees that were here are all gone." 

He looked thoughtful, but then a smile crept onto his face.  "Do you remember that scene where I ran down the hill?"

"Oh yes," I replied. "I kept hoping you wouldn't trip."

That made Jackie laugh and he talked a little more about the changes that have occurred in Hong Kong in the last 20 years.

"It's like a different place," he said, as he looked at all the new housing units covering the formerly green hills. "So many people! So many buildings!"

At around 11:00 we arrived at the international school where the filming would take place. We followed our guide up some stairs and then past the indoor swimming pool where some surprised students stopped in mid-stroke when they saw who was walking by. Soon we arrived at the elementary library where we were met by UNICEF staff and over a dozen of the film crew. The kids were sitting at a round table playing with origami paper and chattering away. Jackie walked up to them and said, "Hi!" and all of them looked up and started screaming "Jackie Chan! Jackie Chan!"  And that was only the beginning of what would be a long, long, (really long) day for Jackie. 

Before shooting began, Jackie was to spend some time with the children so they could get to know him and feel comfortable with him. Honestly, I don't think it took more than about 45 seconds before they were climbing all over him and asking dozens of questions. That's the great thing about kids this age (they were ages 6 to 8) - most of them are very open and friendly, and this group in particular had been chosen for their personalities, so there was no problem with them feeling shy or afraid of Jackie. And let's face it, he has such a warm smile and friendly, trusting face that he's hardly the type kids would be wary of.

While the children were teaching Jackie how to make an origami bird, the film crew was outside preparing for the segment that would be shot on the playground. Soon we all headed out to begin filming. Now, to describe the weather outside as hot would be making a major understatement. It was like a sauna, a steam bath, the inside of a volcano! It was so hot that the first few photos I took when we got out there were completely overexposed; my camera didn't like the heat and humidity any more than I did. Luckily the film crew had set up a tent for filming in the intense sunlight, so there were areas where one could escape to the shade. 

Soon Jackie was sitting on the ground looking perfectly at home with the kids while waiting for the crew to finish preparing. Actually, Jackie is one of those rare few who seems to be at home in just about any situation. He never appears out of place, whether he's at a formal dinner party, driving a car, working out at the gym, digging a hole, or holding a baby. He just naturally takes to situations and his easygoing nature makes him appear comfortable in even the strangest of circumstances. Like entertaining a bunch of little kids in near 100 degree heat and humidity while the sun tries to melt us all.

Thankfully it was soon time for the cameras to roll and Jackie and the children got themselves positioned to begin.

"I have to go to the toilet," declared one of the little boys.

A collective groan issued forth from the adults on the set as the boy was led away to take care of his business. Ten minutes later they were again ready to start. This time everyone was comfortable and eager to begin; take after take of six kids running in circles around Jackie and bouncing their paper birds off his head. The director was trying to get the kids to not only perform their parts, but to do it convincingly and with enthusiasm. This was easier said than done since the weather was the kind that drained all of your energy and made you feel like you couldn't breathe. Jackie seemed to be taking everything in stride and even appeared to be enjoying himself, although there were several times when he looked like he'd rather be somewhere else.

One hundred hours later (okay, maybe it was about 40 minutes), we had completed the playground segment and were led back into the cool library to continue. By this time it was after one o'clock. Lunchtime. The kids were taken to the cafeteria to eat and Jackie disappeared into the copy room for a rest. After a quick nap, he ate lunch and then we worked on the script for a while (the PSA was being filmed in English). Jackie has an impressive memory and it didn't take too many tries to get the lines down. We worked on speaking the lines with expression and before long the director came to get us. It would soon be time to start filming again.

While waiting for the next shot, Jackie had a seat at the librarian's desk and within 12 seconds, one of the little girls was at his side asking him if he knew any tricks. This extraordinary girl was named Eva and she had quickly become Jackie's favorite because of her sparkling personality and animated face. She was completely comfortable with him, leaning on him, flinging her arms around his neck, touching his hair. Jackie was very amused by Eva and kept saying that she would be a great actress because of the myriad of facial expressions she possessed. She had Jackie engaged in demonstrating some coin tricks and was completely enchanted by him. And from the look on  face, it appeared that the reverse was true as well.

As soon as the other children noticed that Jackie was paying more attention to Eva than to them, they surrounded him and despite Dorothy's best attempts to keep them away, they were all over him.

"Can you break a board on your head?"

"Which did you like better, Rush Hour or Around the World in 80 Days?"

"Can I have your autograph for my cousin/uncle/mother/father/dog....."

"Excuse me, Jackie. Should I call you Jackie or Mr. Chan? Because you know, I used to know someone named Jackie and so if I call you Jackie then in my mind I might get confused and then I wouldn't know if it was you Jackie that I meant or the other Jackie that I meant and then I guess if I call you Mr. Chan it would be okay well maybe but then again...."

Jackie looked over at me from the middle of the chaos and asked me, a former elementary school teacher, "How did you do this every day?" I told him that there was one trick I depended upon to get through difficult situations.  I would begin a count from one to ten; my students knew that if I started counting, it was time to get back to order and that if I reached ten, something earth-shattering would happen.

"What would happen?" asked Jackie.

"I don't know," I replied. "I never reached ten."

We heard someone bellowing; it was a distressed assistant trying to round everyone up again to have a seat at the table for the next part of the filming. By this time the children were a little wound up and it was taking all of the crew's energy to keep them focused. From my own work with children, I know that often they will become increasingly active as they become more fatigued. Then they get to the point where they just collapse. We were heading straight in the direction of collapse. It was time to get the kids calmed down and Jackie was just the man to do it. He whipped out a few rubber bands and was soon amazing the kids with a trick he'd recently learned. In order to try and figure out how the trick worked, the children had to sit still and watch carefully. Within minutes, everyone was calm and ready to continue filming. Incredibly, just as the camera began to roll, one of the kids again asked to go to the bathroom. "Well, why didn't you say something a minute ago?" asked the director in a slightly agitated voice. Of course there was no answer from the child. He might just as well have been asked what the distance was between Earth and Pluto.

While the little boy was visiting the restroom, Jackie indicated that he had some stiffness in his shoulders and in an instant, Eva was behind him giving him a massage. She was very serious about doing a good job and went at Jackie's shoulders with such gusto that she had nearly all of us in tears of laughter. Jackie's such a good sport that he sat still while Eva kneaded his shoulders with all her energy.

When the children were all back and seated, we began again. Over and over and over, they went through the sequence. If it wasn't one thing, it was another that was preventing the director from getting a clean shot. Since these kids were not experienced, some of them were having a lot of trouble not looking directly at the camera. A few were having some real problems controlling their movements (i.e. they couldn't stay seated). I thought the director was going to scream, but to his credit, he didn't. In the middle of all this commotion and chaos sat Jackie looking calm and cool. You couldn't tell how he was feeling from the look on his face because he appeared to be perfectly content to sit there and go through the scene time and time again. I have never seen anyone exhibit that kind of patience in such a situation. Jackie never lost his cool even once during the seemingly endless day. Between takes he told jokes, answered questions, made origami birds, signed autographs, and demonstrated the kind of patience that one rarely sees. Later, during the ride home, Jackie expressed some of how he felt (he was getting a little frustrated with all the delays) but honestly, you'd never know it from watching him. The only indication of how he felt during the long day of shooting was when he'd occasionally catch my eye and put a pleading expression on his face while mouthing the word "Help!!"

At just about 7:30 the director finally announced that it was a wrap. There was a lot of applause and then Jackie brought out gifts for all the kids.  T-shirts and filmstrip rulers were distributed, photos were taken. It was over. And I had learned even more about Jackie from spending the day at the school with him. I learned that he has the ability to exhibit more patience than many adults who work professionally with children can. And no matter what he says, he loves kids. He's always complaining about how difficult they are to work with (have you read what Jackie's said about working with Matthew on Rob-B-Hood?) but if you could see the expression on his face when he's with them or when he talks about them, and if you could see the way they look at him, well... it seems that Big Brother Jackie is only blowing hot air when it comes to his complaints about babies and children. It is obvious that he is as smitten with them as they are with him.

Here are some more photos from our day at the elementary school:

Photos: ©2006 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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